Fibonacci is the leader of the Cavia syndicate within the Sanctum Anatomica, deep below Deimos' surface. A massive Norg fish raised to sapience by Albrecht Entrati's bizarre experiments, he aids the Tenno in their fight against the Murmur.
Syndicate information
Fibonacci represents the Cavia syndicate. The Cavia is described thusly:
Animals sent into the Void by Albrecht Entrati, the three surviving Cavia came back changed forever. They gained human intelligence, but could speak only incoherent Voidtongue until the Jahu Gargoyle made them intelligible. Despite what Albrecht did to them, they have resolved to assist his chosen Operator.
Fibonacci assigns various bounties for Tenno to complete within Albrecht's laboratories. Standing with the Cavia is gained by handing in Voca to Loid. Voca are rewarded from Fibonacci's bounties, found during missions in Albrecht's laboratories, or traded from Loid. The Cavia syndicate ranks, from least to most favoured, are:
- Neutral: [no description]
- Assistant: You have helped Loid in his work with the Cavia, though much remains to do.
- Researcher: Your work with the Cavia makes steady progress, despite fomenting disagreements.
- Colleague: Despite the chaos and tragedy in the Labs, your vigilant attention to duty has not faltered.
- Scholar: Your patience is bearing fruit, even as looming disaster threatens.
- Illuminate: You, Loid, and the Cavia have achieved a breakthrough. None of you will ever be quite the same again.
When it comes time for a Tenno to rank up, they must talk to Fibonacci, who will request a sacrifice of Voca and related resources, and reward them with an item from Bird 3's store, befitting their new status.
Idle quotes
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "You. Papa's plan must not be delayed. To work! Use those legs!"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "There you are. I would speak with you."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Come come! We have much to accomplish!"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Tagfer is the last example of his entire species. That howl… a call for a mate he knows will never respond. How I wish… he would just stop."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Come, Tagfer. Let's have you tidy up, hmm? Take your mind off things?"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Bird 3? Be a lad and distract Tagfer? I fear he's being devoured by a grief he's only just learned a name for."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Tagfer. Do come along. You are needed, and this melancholy is unbecoming."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Thank you… Bird. Void preserve me from a newly minted brain and a beginner on the fiddle."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Bird? Be a love and look into the meaning of 'internal monologue'?"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Loid, you're looking rested. Might there be anything I can assist you with? I have some thoughts on— ah, yes. [clears throat] Of course."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant) "Loid, um, when you've a moment, I've prepared an efficiency optimisation plan for the Cavia and I believe you'll be pleased by my conclusions."
(if the Tenno is rank Researcher) [sputtering] "Tagfer? Oh. Yes. Best left to his own devices for now, I suspect."
(if the Tenno is rank Researcher) "Hello. Sorry to bother, but… has Tagfer, um, said… anything… to you? About me? No? No. No particular reason. A good leader keeps abreast of the spirit of the team. Thank you. Carry on."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Sorry… sorry to bother. Would you have time to look at this? That is, if it's all right?"
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "I… have a request. If you have the time, of course. Trying to keep busy."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Oh. Hello. Um. Might you care to work on something? Together, I mean?"
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or Scholar) "Hunh. Hunh. Hunh. I'm… I'm fine. Thank you."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or Scholar) [strained breathing]
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "Let us… let us to work. Time… time waits for no one, eh?"
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "I say… would you care for a quick excursion? One… [coughing] one could use the distraction. Shall we?"
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "Oh. Hello. Forgive me. One moment. [clears throat, exhales] Right. Yes. Apologies. Is there something you require?"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Ah! I have here a toothsome conundrum which I believe you will find quite engaging."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Ahoy-hoy! Might you have time for a quick run? You're a biped; that's a pun."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "With your courage and our expertise, we hold the line. Your fish needs you."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "A new day dawns! Let us to work."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Well done, lads! Well done! I daresay the Murmur is quaking in its ambulators, what with the hiding our friend has dispensed it – slap!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "A well-oiled machine is truly a thing of beauty."
Greeting the Tenno
(if the Tenno has just completed Whispers in the Walls) "Ah yes. 'Operator', correct? 'Drifter', perhaps? You'll find our merry band share that unconventional relationship with their appellations. [clears throat] I am Fibonacci. Papa's design has uplifted me to function as the coordinating factor of this little group. You, uh… may have heard that one of our number was consigned to Paradise before our return from the Void. Minn. Tagfer's mate. Yes. Most unfortunate. Too often it is the good and the young who forge our future, laying their lives upon Progress' unfeeling anvil. Now: let us apply ourselves to the grand work at hand, and deny our minds melancholy's frigid caress. To work!"
"Eyes front! We begin."
"Yes yes good good."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Your attention please."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "You… understand what is required of you, yes?"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Do I have your complete attention?"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "I have attempted to explain your task as simply as possible. No big words."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Papa saw promise in you. I shall strive to do the same."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Let us see if we cannot find something suited to your… hrm… competencies."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "One has no choice but to entrust you with this. Please, be worthy of it."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "I… I do hope Tagfer understands what occurred was… oh! [clears throat] Yes yes what what?"
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "These are all I have, I'm afraid."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Um, what do you think?" [coughs]
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Thank you. Here you go."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "Hm, together again."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "Splendid."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "We [cough] have our work cut out for us."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "The threat persists, [pants] and we stand ready."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "The enemy shall not find us wanting."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "'Once more unto the breach', wot?" [coughing, hacking]
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Together again."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Splendid."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "We have our work cut out for us!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "The threat persists, and we stand ready!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "The enemy shall not find us wanting!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "'Once more unto the breach', wot?"
Accepting a bounty
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "We trust in Papa's wisdom."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Very well."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Honour Papa's plan."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "You have your orders."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "So be it."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Very kind. I find it helpful to have work to focus upon. Let us begin."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Thank you very much. I am ready."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Thank you. I am grateful for the distraction. [clears throat] Begin."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "Thank you. [heavy coughing] Do excuse me."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "On— [heavy coughing] onward. Ah. [catches breath] What a bother."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar) "We have an ac— an ac— [heavy coughing] an accord. Agh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Thank you."
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Our noble struggle continues, ha!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "The enemy does not rest, nor do we!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "We hold the line!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "We are the threshold the Great Indifference shall not cross!"
(if the Tenno is rank Illuminate) "Excelsior!"
Declining a bounty
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Weh? Wah? Bluh! Blabawaghawagh!"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "What do you mean, 'no'?"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "One does not wipe one's arse with the Grand Design!"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Oh! Well. Oh, don't let me hold you!"
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "One struggles to fathom your priorities. Bloody biped."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Are you quite sure? I mean… the threat, you know?"
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Of course, of course. Oh dear."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Well… if there is anything one can do to change your mind…."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "Oh, um, you are called away?"
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "Well… I mean… if you're sure?"
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "If you deem that best."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "If I may: do not tarry overlong."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "The enemy does not sleep, Operator."
Requesting sacrifice
(if the Tenno is attempting to reach rank Assistant) "Gather the others. I have something to say to all of you."
(if the Tenno is attempting to reach rank Researcher) "You have proven yourself worthy of trust. Stick around for a while, will you?"
(if the Tenno is attempting to reach rank Colleague) "You. You are my ally, yes? A… friend? You understand the tortures of the soul? The manner in which a crisis reveals character, yes? How… how one might… might be ashamed of what a calamity reveals? About oneself? Yes? Please. Prove to me you are an ally. Stand with me?"
(if the Tenno is attempting to reach rank Scholar) "You have stood with us. Within this benighted valley, besieged and friendless as we are, you have stood with us. Mmm. Thank you. [clears throat] Tagfer has requested we gather. I hope you will be there."
(if the Tenno is attempting to reach rank Illuminate) [heavy coughing] "Loid… Loid is prepared for us to undergo treatment. [cough] Hoo… as we are the only creatures to have fallen afoul of this particular affliction, it will be quite an achievement should we survive. Perhaps you'd join us, for the big event? You never know – it may actually work [hacking]. And if not, be a love and ensure the silly old thing doesn't flagellate himself for the failure. You know how he is. This way."
Browsing offerings
"I do not consider this an effective use of resources, but what do I know? Have at it. Don't listen to the fish."
"I suppose you deserve a little something for your efforts. Only little though."
"Papa has… set aside certain things for you."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "Spoilt for choice, I'd say."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "Behold."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "Cor-nu-copia."
Redeeming offering
"Now take your sweetie and run along."
"Papa must believe this aids in the conditioning, I suppose."
"Alright alright! There you go! Back to work!"
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "With my compliments."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "I do hope you find that useful."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "And well earned, I might add."
Customising Fibonacci
(opening customisation) "What tremendous designs do you dream of? I think I'd look rather spiffing with a moustache."
(opening customisation) "You think so? Oh, very well. Spruce me up."
(opening customisation) "By all means, [burp] improve upon perfection."
"You may wish to accentuate the brain. After all, that's what they look at."
"Hmm. Meretricious."
"Are you afflicted with choice paralysis?"
"One must be bold, but not gaudy."
(exiting customisation) "I daresay I shall… grow used to it. Eventually."
(exiting customisation) [laughs] "Ah. Glorious."
(exiting customisation) "A consummate triumph… look at the fins on this."
Bidding farewell
"As you were."
"Very good."
"Mm."
"Indeed."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Run along."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Off you trot."
(if the Tenno is rank Assistant or Researcher) "Yes yes."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Oh. Ah. Thank you. For your time."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague) "Goodbye."
(if the Tenno is rank Colleague or higher) "Lovely to see you. As always."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "Do not stay away overlong. Our enemy does not tire."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "Until the next."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "Good day to you… (quietly) I love you."
(if the Tenno is rank Scholar or higher) "Farewell."
When the Tenno ranks up with the Cavia, they will be shown an illustration of the Cavia, and overhear a conversation between them. Below are listed all of these rank-up conversations.
'Assistant' conversation
Fibonacci: "Yes, yes, that's it. Gather 'round now. I have much to impart."
Loid: "I wanted them organised. They're organising. Void preserve us."
Fibonacci: "Now. Let us review. In our time thus far, you have both done, uh… better than expected." [Fibonacci continues talking, indistinct]
Tagfer: "Mister Confident, isn't he? Very polished. I didn't see him helping."
Bird 3: "Yeah… but then there's more for us to do!"
Tagfer: "Right…."
Fibonacci: "However. Some of us are still allowing the past to exert undue influence upon our minds. Minds Papa gifted to us in order that we might aid in the fulfilment of his grand and masterful plan… of which our dear friend Minn's… unfortunate… passing was a… uh, tragic… component."
Bird 3: "You okay, Mister Fishonacci?"
Fibonacci: "Hm? What? Yes. Please do not interrupt."
Tagfer: "Hmmmmm."
Loid: "Well. I'm sure it'll work out wonderfully."
Bird 3: "Mister Tagfer? Mister Tagfer? You look mad. Why are you mad, Mister Tagfer? Huh? Mister Tagfer? Why are you mad?"
'Researcher' conversation
[slow and steady clanging]
Bird 3: "Mister Fishonacci? Mister Fishonacci? Mister Fishonacci? Mister Fishonacci! Mister Tagfer's been bumping his head against that pipe a LOT. I mean… a LOT a LOT. Mister Fishonacci? Why is Mister Tagfer bumping his—"
Fibonacci: "I DON'T BLOODY KNOW! [sputters] I don't know, Bird 3. I… Tagfer? One couldn't help but notice your behaviour taking on an… idiosyncratic… bent… of late? Is… is everything quite all right? Tagfer? Tagfer?"
[clanging stops]
Tagfer (morosely): "What reason would I have to think everything isn't 'quite all right'?"
Fibonacci: [sputters]
Tagfer: "Should I rephrase?"
Fibonacci: "I merely wish to comfort you. To… aid you… if I can… in this, the moment of your gr—"
Tagfer: "NNNNNNNNOT! …another word."
Fibonacci: "Oh I've had quite enough of this! You are not the only one here dealing with the horrors that besieged us in that accursed bell! The fears? The nightmares? The guilt…!"
Tagfer: "What would any of us have to feel guilty about. 'Fibonacci'."
Bird 3: "Rark?"
'Colleague' conversation
[Bird 3 squawking continuously in distress in the background]
Fibonacci: "STOP HIM! STOP HIM! ANYONE! HE'S LOST HIS MIND!"
[repeated clanking, then sound of glass cracking]
Fibonacci: "MY TANK! BY THE VOID, HE'S KILLED ME!"
Loid: "STOP!"
[clanking and squawking cease]
Loid: [catches breath] "Stop."
Fibonacci: "I'm leaking, I'm leaking…."
Loid: "You're fine. What in blazes…?"
Tagfer: "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU CARE?! You put us in that bell! You watched as she—"
Loid: "I SAVED YOUR LIVES! Do you really think Albrecht thought to freeze you? To preserve you? That was me. In the hope that we might find a cure for…."
Tagfer: "…for Void exposure."
Fibonacci: "Then that means…."
Tagfer: "The clock's still ticking. We're gonna die."
Loid: "I'm… I'm working on it."
Tagfer: "I don't care. I want the fish."
Loid: "What?"
Tagfer: "He did it. He killed her. He killed Minn."
Loid: "What? I just told you that you're going to…?! Hold on a minute. The specim— Minn… was lost to the Void."
Tagfer: "Vented to the Void! By him!"
Fibonacci: "Why would…?"
Tagfer: "To save himself! Or so the coward thought! Tell them. Tell them what you did!"
[silence]
Tagfer: "The Void had penetrated the bell. It was in there with us. Before it started talking, though, it made us smart enough to understand it. And that's when Fibonacci here lost his shit. Panicked. Tried to get it out by blowing the seal. Minn was closest when it popped."
Loid: "After the monitors failed, Albrecht wondered how you all came to be exposed to that degree. Fibonacci?"
Tagfer: "His name isn't 'Fibonacci'. Of the four of us, he's the only one without a name. Aren't you, mate? Weren't even part of the group. Didn't even get a label. A late addition is all he was. An afterthought. A fish. Why name something too stupid to hold a memory for longer than fifteen seconds?"
Loid: "I want to hear what—"
Tagfer (mockingly): "'He's killed me!'"
[Fibonacci starts sobbing]
Tagfer: "YOU'VE KILLED US! ALL OF US!"
Fibonacci: "Papa…."
Tagfer: "Forever kissing the fist that beats you. 'Papa'? 'Papa' is a stinking liar. Minn and I were the last Cervulites. But Albrecht didn't see our species as having worth. We were just one more component in one more experiment and Papa didn't think much of the results. So… 'tag for disposal'. That was us. Both of us were 'Tagfer'. But I won't let her go on with that. I gave her something better. She's Minn. We were never meant to be here! We only ever had each other! And now? Not even that. 'Papa'? 'Papa'? Spineless Void-damned Albrecht? I want to find him as bad as you do. [deep sigh] And you'll know when I do, because his head's going right in your stinking tank."
Fibonacci: "I…"
[Tagfer growls, then stomps away]
Fibonacci: "I never meant…. Loid. You can't imagine what it was like. To suddenly exist is horror enough, but to suddenly exist – to comprehend so much – only to be faced with extinction… I… I'm sorry."
Bird 3 (sadly): "Wuk. Wuk. Wuk. Wuk. Wuk. Wuk. Wuk."
[Bird 3 walks away]
'Scholar' conversation
Loid: "Alright. Tagfer. Fibonacci."
Tagfer: [sigh] "Listen. I can work with the fish. The Murmur has to be kept in check."
Fibonacci: "Tagfer, I—"
Loid: "Hmp!"
Tagfer: "Like it or not, the fish is more clued-in to Albrecht diseased brain than I could ever be. If I'm gonna find that prick, I need the fish."
Fibonacci: "Tagfer! You won't regret this. I promise."
Tagfer: "Goes to show, Fish: you ain't as smart as you'd like, and your promises are shit. I already do."
Fibonacci: [sputters] "He made you a widow, but he made me a murderer!"
Bird 3: "HEEEEY! HEY! HEY HEY HEY HEY HEEEEEY!"
Fibonacci: "Uuh…."
Bird 3: "If this is smart I wanna be dumb. Yell yell yell yell yell! Hit and hit and hurt and hurt. We lost it all. We lost green and run and food-want and smell-follow. And sky blue. And Minn. And all we got for all that losing… are these big brains. Big brains and each other. And you wanna lose that too. Brains by being dumb and each other by throwing us away. We're all we got! Nobody knows what it's like being us. Nobody but us. You're not mad at each other. You're made at you. You can't hurt everything that hurt you. Sometimes things just hurt. Sometimes things not wrong, sometimes things just are. We're all we have left, and you want that to die, too. KNOCK IT OFF!"
[Bird 3 walks away]
Fibonacci: "'The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.'"
Tagfer: "What's that?"
Fibonacci: "Hm? Something from Pa— from Albrecht's library."
Tagfer: "No. I mean what's that? You don't look right. Shit. Neither do I. Loid?"
Loid: "Your colour… the Void sickness is advancing. Remaking you the way the Murmur remakes everything."
Tagfer: "Loid…."
Loid: "I'm close to a means to reverse the process. I think."
Fibonacci: [sputters] "You 'think'?!"
Loid: "I need to return to my instruments. Forgive me."
Tagfer: [sigh]
Tagfer and Fibonacci (in unison): "Bird 3."
[Tagfer walks away]
Tagfer: "Bird? Hey… Bird?"
'Illuminate' conversation
Loid: "The chamber is sealed. Prepare for saturation. I've done all I can."
[clank, machinery whirring]
Loid: "Increasing saturation!"
[machinery sounds continue]
Loid: "Their levels of decay aren't shifting. [sigh] Pushing to maximum!"
[machinery winds up]
Loid: "I… I…."
[machinery winds down, stops]
Loid: "I'm sorry. I tried. I daren't open the chamber. The radiation… in you… I don't know what…."
Fibonacci: "Is… is there nothing…?"
Tagfer: "We're done, Fish. No point in howling about it."
Bird 3 (weakly): "Just… just gonna sit down. Will… will we be like Minn, now?"
Tagfer (weakly): "We'll all get to meet her, Bird. Don't you worry about nothin'. You can talk her ear off and she'll love you for it. [pause] Bird? Bird?"
Fibonacci (weakly): "Tagfer…."
Tagfer (weakly): "It's not your fault, Fib. We just played the hand we were dealt. As best we could. Not your fault. None of our fault. Fib? [pause] So long, Fish."
Loid: [deep breath, sobs]
Tagfer (weakly): "Loid, you did good."
[Tagfer lies down and exhales]
Loid: [sobbing]
[computer beeping]
Loid: [sniffing] "Bad comedy. Their Void contamination levels are dropping. Of course. Huzzah. At least I'll be able to bury—"
[machine clanks and spins up again briefly]
Loid: "Agh! Their… their contamination levels haven't dropped… they've…"
[Tagfer rams the inside of the chamber repeatedly]
Loid: …Alchemised."
[Tagfer stops]
Loid: "You… were dead."
[chamber opens]
Tagfer: "I guess it didn't take. But there is definitely some weird crap going on with us right now. You wanna explain this? We're…."
Loid: "Incandescent. Some kind of… chromatic volatility? A side effect of Void and anti-Void and something I can't quite identify… a reaction that saved your lives but… did that."
Fibonacci: "I look ridiculous!"
Bird 3: "Hahahaha. We look bee-yootiful!"
Fibonacci: "We look purple."
Bird 3: "Not me. I wanna be yellow."
Fibonacci: "Good grief."
Loid: "How did he do that?"
Tagfer: "I wanna be… red."
Bird 3: "Whoa!"
Loid: "Amazing. Amazing!"
Fibonacci: [sputters] "I am still purple!"
Loid: "Everything's green, so everything's clean. Let's… let's get you out of there!"
Fibonacci: "Everything is not 'green'! Oh Void. I'm green. I'm green!"
Mission control
Fibonacci provides mission control for the following mission types:
- Alchemy (Cambire, Deimos)
- Assassination (Effervo, Deimos)
- Survival (Persto, Deimos)
Fibonacci's dialogue, like that of the other Cavia, changes significantly in tone and delivery as the Tenno ranks up with the Cavia. Initially Fibonacci is pompous and disdainful, but after the Tenno becomes a Colleague he becomes subdued, almost deferential. As the Tenno continues to Scholar he becomes tired and sick, often overtaken with bouts of coughing. Once the Tenno attains the final rank of Illuminate, Fibonacci is once again energetic, almost triumphant, but is much more respectful and friendly than his first impressions. The reasons for these changes are shown in the Cavia rank-up conversations.
Fibonacci is introduced during the Whispers in the Walls quest, along with the rest of the Cavia. He has additional dialogue in Operation: Gargoyle's Cry. He is mentioned in the dialogue of Loid, Tagfer, and Bird 3 (who pronounces his name "Fish-o-nah-chee"), and is also mentioned in Albrecht's Notes.
“‘The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.'”
This line in the ‘Scholar’ rank-up cutscene is a quote from the 1964 book Nothing Personal, a collaboration between photographer Richard Avedon and writer James Baldwin. The book combines Avedon’s photography of the pair’s contemporaries, such as Allen Ginsberg and Marilyn Monroe, with in-set text from Baldwin forming an essay throughout. The passage that Fibonacci quotes are the final sentences of the essay and the book.
The essay concerns itself with time, memory, continuity and generational struggle – themes which recur within Warframe’s narrative. The 20th-century reference recalls Albrecht’s goals in 1999, while the paragraph within Nothing Personal that precedes the quote may be interesting in the light of the Entrati family’s history and the concept of alternate histories and eternalism within Warframe (eternalism itself being closely tied to Euleria and Albrecht Entrati’s work as Archimedians – hence the quote, and by implication the essay’s presence within Albrecht’s library):
“For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.”
Thanks for providing the source for this real-life reference!
One small thing I’ll nitpick is that Albrecht and Euleria, as far as we know, weren’t Archimedians. The Archimedians constituted a distinct class with specific garb and symbols of office. Kaelli Entrati says she applied unsuccessfully to enter the Archimedian Collegium, but no other member of the Entrati or high-ranking Orokin are known to be Archimedians themselves.
Ah, I remember that dialogue from the communicator at Kahl’s Garrison, but I never caught that distinction before.
– “Xenobiology and xenobotany with a special focus in synergetic Void harmonics, yes. Disqualified from application to the Archimedian Collegium on a technicality.”
It sounds like she was disqualified from applying to the Collegium at all. Perhaps the technicality she refers to is the fault of the Orokin class structure – Parvos’ transmissions in the Deadlock Protocol and Cephalon Melica’s dialogue give us a sense of the secrecy and prestige, respectively, of House Entrati’s research. Given the rigidity of Orokin society, it seems probable that the child of a high-ranking Orokin family would be discouraged at best from associating with members of a lower class – especially on the equal footing that would be implied if she had actually joined the Collegium as a fellow researcher.
In any case, very interesting!